Light emitter devices, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), may be utilized in packages for providing white light (e.g., perceived as being white or near-white), and are developing as replacements for incandescent, fluorescent, and metal halide high-intensity discharge (HID) light products. Conventional LED packages may include filling materials, such as encapsulants with or without one or more phosphors disposed therein. Conventional encapsulants may be gas permeable which can allow undesirable chemicals and/or chemical vapors to enter the LED package and degrade various components within the package. For example, vapors containing sulfur, sulfur-containing compounds (e.g., sulfides, sulfites, sulfates, SOx), chlorine and bromine containing complexes, nitride oxides (e.g., NOx) and oxidizing organic vapor compounds may permeate the encapsulant and degrade various components within the LED package. Such degradation can adversely affect brightness, reliability, and thermal properties of LED components and packages over time.
Despite the availability of various LED packages and components in the marketplace, a need remains for packages, components, and related methods for improved chemical resistance. Packages, components, and methods disclosed herein can advantageously improve chemical resistance of the encapsulated LED package and/or package components, while promoting ease of manufacture and increasing reliability and performance in high power and/or high brightness applications. Described methods can be used and applied to make chemically resistant surface mount device (SMD) type LED packages of any size, thickness, and/or dimension, wherein the packages can comprise a single LED chip, multiple chips, and/or multi-arrays of LEDs. Packages, components, and methods disclosed herein are applicable to any range in size and/or build of LED chip, any die attach (e.g., eutectic, silicone, epoxy), and any type of body and/or reflector material (e.g., polyamide (PA), polyphthalamide (PPA), silicone or ceramic). Packages, components, and methods disclosed herein can be used for any LED chip type, for example, flip chip or sapphire chips. The subject matter herein can also provide protection against chemicals and chemical vapor and can serve as an anti-oxidation, anti-corrosion layer, and/or chemical-barrier layer, for example, over silver (Ag) or Ag-containing LED packages, copper (Cu), and substrates containing such metals.